It’s All Bush’s Fault

Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, R-Bruswick, said today that theÂ state GOP’s troubles – from the loss of Sen. NickÂ Spano, R-Yonkers, which Bruno appears ready to concede (even if Spano himself is not), to its statewide trouncing – is all a result of voters being fed up with the Bush administration.Â

“The people were down on the leadership out of Washington – and frankly, for darn good reason,” said Bruno, whoÂ invoked the wordÂ “tsunami” to describe the Democratic victories onÂ Nov. 7.Â “I think that it was an abomination that there were resignations the day after the election.”

Republicans would have fared better overall, Bruno said, if former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had stepped down three to four weeks before the election.

As for Spano, Bruno said he believe if the recanvass of the voting machines holds up then the 35th SD race “is over.” He professed not to understand how Westchester voters could have “rejected, apparently, a senator, a leader, like Nick Spano.”

Bruno Spano’s replacement, Democrat Andrea Stewart-Cousins, would not do nearly as well at delivering for the district (read: bringing home pork) despite her connection to Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer, adding: “I wish her well.”

The senatorÂ rejected the suggestion that the GOP is going the way of the dodo in New York, saying the Senate majority is the “base” from which the party will rebuild.

“Remember, you heard it here first, OK,” Bruno said. “We’re going to win back seats, and we’re going to rebuild the party.”

And Nassau County GOP Chairman is just the man to do it – a man Bruno called a “brother” and credited with his current post as majority leader – because:

“He’s an experienced person, he’s a dynamic person…we don’t need somebody that is in an apprenctice mode to take over the work that has to be done,” Bruno said. “Frankly it’s a real tough job.”

Just because Mondello has experienced losses in his own county doesn’t mean he’s not up to the task, the senator said, noting: “in this business of ours, there’s peaks and valleys, winners and losers, that’s the business we’re in.”

As for Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer, with whom all four legislative leaders will be meeting at 5 p.m. in the AG’s office, Bruno said: “We’re on a honeymoon…I hope this honeymoon lasts for at least two years.”